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Kevin Love: It was necessary to clean house in Cleveland

February 18 2018 3:51 AM

Kevin Love is on board with all the moves the Cleveland Cavaliers made at the NBA trade deadline.

Love saw a team that needed change and Cleveland went through a near complete rebuild a week ago as the likes of Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade made way for George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr.

"It might not have been a bad thing to get some fresh faces in there and guys from situations where they really wanted to win," Love told reporters at NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles on Saturday.

"I think first and foremost, seeing those [new] guys in Atlanta, they didn't play, but they got there right after the trade and they just said they want to win. You can tell when somebody says it, you can tell when somebody means it. They really meant it and it felt good to have that there."

Love was the brunt of much of the vitriol from team-mates before the deadline as he was called out for leaving a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with an illness and then missing practice the next day.

Wade was the man who first called him out and Thomas piled on after the fact.

Those two players are no longer with the team, moving to the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers respectively, and the Cavaliers went 3-0 with their new-look roster.

Love has not yet played with his new team-mates as he is rehabbing from a broken bone in his hand, but is looking forward to the chance.

"It's going to be interesting to see what happens because we feel like if we get a couple months under our belt playing together," he said. "We could be tough."